


delirium

by rainbowshoes



Series: whumptober 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Fever, M/M, Sick Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 00:06:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21234830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowshoes/pseuds/rainbowshoes
Summary: written for whumptober 2019prompt 3 - delirium(tony has a fever and says something...)





	delirium

Tony was in shit shape. Bucky was honestly a little worried about him, with his fever as high as it was. The pneumonia had come up out of the blue and knocked Tony on his ass. He wasn't exactly resting, though, even if he was in bed. His coughing kept him up most of the night, and he was on constant breathing treatments because of his compromised lungs. It was hard, seeing Tony so sick. But Bucky crawled into bed with him and wrapped him up tight and held him through the worst of it, seeing as how that was all he could do. 

He'd been a little foggy all day, not realizing what day it was or what time it was, thinking it was a different year a couple times, and once insisting that he had too much work to do, that he couldn't slack on. Bucky hadn't worried too much about it. Fever could make people a little hazy. But hours had passed, and Tony wasn't getting much better, even with all the medicines coursing through his veins. 

Bucky curled up next to Tony in the bed and squeezed Tony's hand with his flesh hand, not wanting to risk the metal warming to Tony's body and trapping the heat there. But Tony flinched from him.

He drew back slowly and sat up. "Tony?" he asked cautiously, unsure of what Tony's reaction would be. Surely Tony knew who he was?

"No," Tony muttered, his eyes half closed. "Not - not that one."

Bucky lifted his left hand. "You - you want this hand?" Tony nodded, and Bucky reached across the distance between them to squeeze Tony's hand. "Can I ask why?" He'd noticed a long time ago that Tony preferred the metal hand, of course, but he'd chalked it up to Tony's downright filthy kink for his arm. Somehow, he didn't think this reaction had anything to do with that. 

"That -" Tony coughed a little, and it sounded horrible and wet, "that hand killed my mom." 

Bucky snatched his hand away. "Tony, I -" 

Tony made an unhappy grunt and reached for Bucky's metal hand. Bucky held it out to him slowly, cautiously. "That hand killed Howard," he whispered, broken once more by the knowledge. 

"Doesn't matter," Tony insisted. His voice was rough and brittle and dry. Bucky reached for the water cup with the lid and straw by the bed and offered it to Tony, who took a few grateful sips. "'m not sorry you killed Howard." The admission stunned Bucky, making him freeze solid. "I'm glad he's dead. Glad you killed him." Then Tony closed his eyes. "But I dunno if I'll ever forgive you for killing my mom." 

Bucky nodded mutely. He put the water cup back on the nightstand by the bed, waited until Tony was more or less asleep, and then crept away. 

Clint found him breaking punching bags in the gym a while later, and he distracted Bucky with a target game. It wasn't enough to soothe the sting of Tony's words, but it was enough to make Bucky put it to the side until he could hash it out with Tony later, once he wasn't quite so delirious and knew exactly what he was saying. 


End file.
